Allison,
The Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY offers a Family Pass program to
libraries. The program serves as a community outreach tool and helps expose
new audiences to our collection. At present, all Rochester city library
branches (11)  participate in the program. Two other town/suburban libraries
in the area also participate. Libraries pay the Memorial Art Gallery $25 per
pass requested for circulation. Our museum produces passes and the libraries
affix bar codes to passes and track them just as they'd track books. Library
patrons are allowed to keep passes for up to 2 weeks. When they visit
Memorial Art Gallery, they sign our Family Pass visitor's log and indicate
the library that they are from and the number of people in their party. They
pay just $5 for admission for a family of any size. Admission is normally $7
for adults, $2 for children 6-18 and free for children 5 and under, so it's
a significant savings. The pass cannot be used during special events or for
ticketed exhibitions. We also mail participating libraries copies of our
bi-monthly publication and fliers for special programs and they place them
on their circulation desk for patrons to browse through. The program's
structure has changed over the years. At one time libraries paid $50 per
pass. Rochester's city library program is funded by a grant from Friends of
the Rochester Public Library and includes funding for other things like
storytelling at Memorial Art Gallery during a few Family Day celebrations,
as well as talks and art activities at libraries led by Gallery staff and
volunteers. Feel free to contact me by phone or email for more details. The
program is well received by the general public and embraced by staff at the
libraries and the museum. -Debora 

Debora McDell
Coordinator of Community Programs and Outreach
Memorial Art Gallery
500 University Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607
Phone: (585) 473-7720, x3034
Fax: (585) 473-6266
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://mag.rochester.edu
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Allison Lakin [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 1:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Creating Museum library passes


Hello,

Does anyone have experience establishing community access passes?  I am
interested in recommendations for building partnerships with local
organizations and how to integrate a check out through the public library
system.

Also, to museums who have participated in such programs, what unanticipated
challenges have you encountered?  How did you track admissions?  Were these
grant funded?  What were your audience expectations?  What were your
audience realities?

Thank you for your thoughts.



Allison Lakin
Coordinator of Community Programs

The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art
5401 Bay Shore Road
Sarasota, Florida 34243

Voice: 941.358.4267
Fax: 941.359.5745

Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: www.ringling.org

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